f-logjust another web log


28 Sep 2002 11:30 -- 
seti : 1733 -- dnet : 		52,044


One of the real pluses of having unlimited email accounts with your own domain is any spam will usually come through to more than one address and is VERY easy to spot !!

I can also assign an email address like xboxcompetitionfrompartydotcom@jumpstation.co.uk and track any unauthorized uses :)

Its all over <sob> http://www.distributed.net/pressroom/news-20020926.html oh well maybe I should start folding some proteins http://folding.stanford.edu/ , I do not like the sound of calculating rulers ;)

I got more success from SQL but some of the functions I wanted to use were not supported in 6.2.x so I downloaded 7.2.2 just need to install it sometime !

Restarted playing Black and White and this time I tried the Gods Playground option, at first it looks like another boring tutorial on how to move but once you have the freedom look around and break a few rocks.

I found a beach ball, two large dice and ten bowling pins and two balls. What did I do with them ? I went islander bowl of course !! <evil laugh> !!

I will have to chance my stats engine, I will keep dnet for a while longer.

http://andrius.esu.lt/10/go.htm - the rabbit wants your carrot! (alt+F4 to exit)

http://www1.tip.nl/~t515027/hypercube.html - a java hypercube, check it out

http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html - another view on what time it is, I should have thought of THIS !

http://www.ladystar.net/game/ladystargame.html - odd online interactive Anime stories (time consuming)

http://www.madblast.com/oska/pong.cfm - the best and most famous flash anim EVER, pong !!


25 Sep 2002 21:37 -- 
seti : 1720 -- dnet : 		107,754


I left the ASP trying to access the postgresql server and waited patiently for it to time out, 24hours. But when I finally stopped IE I found no errors.

I checked the firewall logs in case there was another port I was accidentialy blocking and found that the system (Linux) had been trying to connect to a remote SQL server port !!

I then deleted all the extra inetpub directories and nothing worked, uninstall reinstall.

The forgot about it and installed Black and White, first impressions very bad, took excrutiatling long time to install with very little information as to what was going on, but once the game started WOW, just look at the graphics and playing area !!

AND then I found I was on the lowest GFX settings whacked them all to full at 1024x780 and it looks amazing !!

It has a lot in it but it is still not the do anything game it claims to be !!

I saw an option to use a POP3 server during the game, so I took a fake one I had been writing and set it up to show all connections but BW never once tried to connect :( and on the other hand it ripped the contact names out of the Outlook address book, but was Sarah's profile, so I have all my villagers named after Her contacts :(

Managed to get to the last level in REZ, talk about trippy !!

Finished the 'Triggerfish twist' book, stupidly funny book from start to finish, it was a pity it had to end. At one point I was holding back tears of laughter on the train :z

I am now more sure than ever that the Xbox is heading for the same fate of the Dreamcast, the DC STILL has better games that the PS2 but it does not matter the sheep have followed their Sheppard :(

Went looking one last time for ways to connect to my PSQL database via windows and came across and FAQ at http://odbc.postgresql.org for using access as a back end for PSQL db.

I did not use access (never installed it) but when I tried excel in the same way (\data\external source\new db query) I got an error for "Access Denied", progress !!

Did some more checking at http://www.postgresql.org/idocs/ and found I needed to GRANT permissions to users .....

GRANT ALL ON [table] TO [user]

where ALL is all permissions instead of just SELECT/INSERT etc and [table] is the table name and [user] is the the ...... well user name

Success !! Excel downloaded all the data from the table from all columns no problem, time to go back to my ASP.

I had rebuilt the DSN as a System DSN with no user name or password (as the FAQ had suggested), set the connection string to the new DSN and purposely set the UID (username) to NAME, had another window open with a repeating ASP script so I could see if the PWS fell over and ran the test.

An error a glorious error !! (as before user was not found in pg_shadow)

Set the user name and password and no error !!

quick recordset code and low and behold the data was appearing as if by magic !!

One final note, I tried setting the connection string password to something bad and it still connected OK !? I must need to change the server settings to force a password from the client !





http://lego.dave.dk/ - how lego men build computers very funny / clever

http://www.errorwear.com/shirts-all.shtml - quality geek tshirts

http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/2002/09/news20020923_1.html - life size star destroyeer lego kit ? well not quite, must start saving now !!

http://mindprod.com/unmain.html - How To Write Unmaintainable Code !

http://jpbrown.i8.com/cubesolver.html - rubics cube solver robot in LEGO !!


17 Sep 2002 21:59 -- 
seti : 1687 -- dnet : 		99,432


Finished reading 'the book of nothing' and nothing most definitely IS something, started off with the history of the numeric zero, very interesting and unexpected, then onto the historic vacuum and its religious conatations.

But ended up with the current quantum views on the universe, other dimensions in time and space and the end of everything !!

Not as easy a read as the 'counting sheep' book I read previously but I actually understood most of what was being discussed, so I reckon anyone could.

I am now reading a black comedy called 'the trigger fish twist' which so far has be HILARIOUS and I am loving every minute !

I have had my winME laptop running dnet quite happily for some weeks now without ever turning off but I could never close the screen (even though it power saved the display) because it would try and hibernate. No longer, I dremel-ed off the close button ;)

I forgot to mention but postgresql is pronounced 'postgres-QL' instead of 'postre-sequel'

I have setup the postgresql server to allow connections via TCP from one IP address (Apart from local), just edited /etc/postgresQL/pg_hba.conf and postmaster.init followed by a quick KILL -HUP. I also installed PWS so I can run ASP, now to test the connection

A DNS-less connection string gave me so much trouble I opted for a DSN (using the latest postgresQL ODBC drivers and the latest MDAC(2.7)).

or have I ? Helps if I allow the port through the firewall (even though its all internal) and I run the server in TCP mode.

postmaster -S -i -p 5432

so I go from a can not connect to server error to a more interesting

The database does not exist on the server or user authentication failed.; Error while reading from the socket

the ODBC logging option pointed at the user and pg_shadow

SetUserId: user 'username' is not in 'pg_shadow'

and if I try and connect with PSQL as i have before from the local machine I now get

Is the postmaster running at 'localhost' and accepting connections on Unix socket '5432'?

hmmm PSQL -p 5432 and then SELECT * FROM pg_shadow shows my user is NOT in the table !??

where did he go and should i just recreate him ?

CREATE USER mr X WITH PASSWORD secret 

note the WITH before PASSWORD it is not mentioned in some of the documentation and the command fails without it !

well after some fun with quotes I now see my user in the pg_shadow table (nice plain text password) !!

I need sleep so I will try tomorrow cos at the moment I get no error it just does not connect :(

http://www.carlzimmer.com/parasite_2.html - an introduction to a book on parasites

http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html - how to build a gauze gun just like in Quake

http://www.chkrootkit.org/ - have you been rooted ?!!

http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/29/bclock.html - clockblock or blockclock weird

http://members.tripod.com/~Barefoot_Lass/cola.html - how to kill rats with cola !!

http://davenet.userland.com/1997/03/03/DonsAmazingPuzzle - until you know it you will not know why it

http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html - the truth about daylight savings time


16 Sep 2002 20:43 -- 
seti : 1682 -- dnet : 		98,411


Did you know there are currently over 500 files on http://www.jumpstation.co.uk !! Bet you can not find them all !

I have been playing Unreal tournament 2003 today (obviously not at work !) and it kicks ass !! reminds me a lot of the fun to be had in Quake II, definitely a must buy !!

The demo was only 100mb :)

http://www.unrealtournament2003.com/ - guess

http://www.jumpstation.co.uk/misc/fx7/ - finally updated my FX7 page

http://www.jokes2go.com/lists/list4.html - jokes and stuff

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html - astronomy picture of the day, changes daily

http://brainsluice.tripod.com/moonlanding.html - nasa DID fake the moon landing :)

http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/calista.html - extreme lego art


15 Sep 2002 20:49 -- 
seti : 1678 -- dnet : 		96,802


I went back and completed all the Toy commander missions in record time and by completing all missions (records or not) I got access to the secret snail race.

The snail race has some very odd sound and graphics but is great fun, on completing that in 1st place I was given the ultimite weapon against the end Boss.

In fact I killed the end boss with only one toy, can't do any better than that !!

So I got to watch the end cut scene again and play the final mission (which is just a lead up the cut scene, the cut scene movie really makes playing the game worth while.

There is nothing worse than completing a game and just getting the credits grrr!

This also means that all the multiplayer modes have been unlocked including all the rooms to death match in !!

OI ! Canadian do you want a re-match! yes James Gambell I am talking to you !!

So after completing Toy Commander I wanted to get back to trying to get somewhere on Rez (again, the Dreamcast version) which is a wild Space Harrier shoot em up with am,azing GFX and sound/music.

I have already found that you can charge up on earlier levels and then try and go for later ones, which I was not aware of previously.

Also I could swear that the game is different, I know it does change to match how well you play but some of the GFX seem to be better !

It is not an easy game in anybodies eyes, you need to hit 100% of everything to get deeper into the game and I keep getting 99.6% AGHHHHhhhhhhh hh  h.... !

here are some more urls.

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix/vinge/vinge-sing.html - an interesting paper on the future

http://www.xengamers.com/ - games news(previously coremagazine.com)

http://dev.dcemulation.com/ - guess

http://www.larrycarlson.com/index2.htm - unlimited surrealism via flash

http://adbusters.org/spoofads/ - spoof ads !


15 Sep 2002 14:08 -- 
seti : 1677 -- dnet : 		96,802


A bit more about the cartoon, there were three color layers, four line drawn layers and the FX/sun shadow layer.

I have completed Toy Commander again, there is still on mission I can not complete at all and three that have the records yet to be broken and I have not unlocked the snail race so I beat the end boss with NORMAL weapons and I only used four toys !!! Damn I am good !

I have only played through I other game to re-completion and that was the original Tomb Raider on the original platform the SATURN.

I now have Black and White to install at some point, but I notice my list of things to do is getting longer ....

I watched AI on DVD, I had seen it in the cinema I thought it was good so I will just mention the extras. As is common on large productions there was a lot of mini documentary's in the second DVD (after a main 'making of' on the DVD 1) which looked at the characters, locations, special FX in quite some detail and was quite interesting, but the Actors previous films did not work for me properly which was disappointing.

Where are all the new links I promised you ?

http://www.xe.com/ucc/ - best currency convert around

http://www.lightfantastic.demon.co.uk/robd/ - some twat who got his MCP in 1998

http://developers.slashdot.org/ - one of many slashdot secrets

http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/isapnpfaq-8.html - great guide to isapnptools

http://www.gphoto.net/cameras.html - ultimate webcam software for Linux

http://www.linuxsocket.org/books/Sockets/programs/index.html - Linux socket programming

http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=222 - daily manga

http://www.pulpphantom.com/episode6_play.html - a pulp fiction rip with Phantom Menace characters, lots of flash episodes (do not know why I linked to this one inparticular)


14 Sep 2002 11:03 -- 
seti : 1671 -- dnet : 		94,645


Have you ever been to http://www.dailydraw.com ? Well they had there first Million pound winner the other week, which is annoying because I have been playing since it started over a year ago.

But all is forgiven because I have won a go-cart experience or health spar !!

Oh, sorry about the picture in the last post, it was the first time I have tried to draw something like that with the GIMP.

The small grey box on the partition is a webcam, if you know where I work fill in the blank and see for your self (note it is not my webcam so u might not see me a lot, but you could check the history page) http://demo.[BLANK].com/webcam


11 Sep 2002 20:35 -- 
seti : 1659 -- dnet : 		91,337


I have been having a problem at work, between 09:30 and 10:30 the sun catches my screen and I can not see its contents.

At first I just shielded parts with my hand but this became tiresome after 30 mins !!

So I employed a large tray onto of my monitor balanced with some heavy books, it worked but was unwieldy.

Next I used a desk partition and again it worked but there was still something heavy over my head !

I needed something more portable and light, I tried an umbrella but as my manual shading it was difficult to keep in the correct place.

Finally we resorted to attaching mail bags to the windows in question, but before we came to this solution I visualized the following.


9 Sep 2002 18:47 -- 
seti : 1649 -- dnet : 		88,912


Postgresql is not at all like ms T-SQL and it is doing my brain in!

All I wanted was a table with an auto incrementing unique ID column and a CREATED and MODIFIED column which got set when the records was created and then updated.

In ms T-SQL this is very easy, set the column to have an IDENTITY constraint but in postgresQL I wound up using

CREATE SEQUENCE "seq_eventdata" start 1 increment 1 maxvalue 2147483647 minvalue 1  cache 1 ; -- note that the name of the sequence is all in lowercase!!!, this caused my major problems when I mixed case

and then associating it with the column in the CREATE TABLE statement

id int8 CONSTRAINT pkey PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT NEXTVAL('seq_eventdata') NOT NULL

and then I found the function getdate() I use is not available in postgreSQL but the example given does not work either in the end I use

CREATED 	 timestamp DEFAULT now(),

MODIFIED	 timestamp DEFAULT now()

but the hardest part was to get the MODIFIED column to be updated each time the row was effected, again in ms T-SQL this is one short simple trigger but in postgreSQL triggers can not have SQL in them, you must assign them functions!!

I also tried to create a rule as suggested by the documentation, thus

CREATE RULE upd_eventData_modified AS ON UPDATE TO eventData DO 

UPDATE eventData SET modified = now()

WHERE id = OLD.id

which made sense, as it was almost the same as T-SQL trigger but when I updated the row I got 

ERROR:  query rewritten 10 times, may contain cycles

which meant it was running the rule recursively (and infinitely) which is not good.

A few googles later and I have the following that works !!

CREATE FUNCTION modified_trigger() returns opaque as '

begin

 NEW.modified := now();

 return NEW;

end;' language 'plpgsql';



CREATE TRIGGER eventdatamodified before update on eventdata for each row execute

 procedure modified_trigger();

Linux would be very hard without constant access to the internet !!!

all the above was entered yesterday, but after the last update, today I am feeling unwell :(

I have had the camera on all day and through this non-twain software it works now to hack the source and get it to do webcam images !!

I forgot to mentioned the physics in Toy Commander, one of the first missions sees you pushing eggs into a boiling pan, and the eggs role exactly as they would in real life even when they bump into each other. where you hit the egg, at what angle and speed are all calculated perfectly and then the egg has wobble and initia !!!

The game later lets you push a basket ball five times your size, a deodorant can not to mention barrels, this game is so much fun !

I was the first (that I could find) to publish a completed Toy Commander save on the web and not only had I not used a cheat I had not used the extra weapons available in the snail race !!

So I am doing pretty well completing all the missions so far with a perfect score (beating the bad guys times) but I can not get anything other than average on 'pirates booty', it seems to need the luck of power ups (random) and then exact positioning (for the jump) !!

now in something of a change, some up to date links !!

http://roberttaylor.co.uk/robert.taylor - this server will be crushed 

http://195.195.81.5/ - the server being crushed with countdown

http://www.tsunamii.net/archive/alpha3p5/alpha3p5.html - story of server crushing


8 Sep 2002 16:20 -- 
seti : 1644 -- dnet : 		87,238


For a while I have wanted to get MySQL up and running for my personal use, but it appears it is non-free so I have tried to install PostgresQL.

I really hate the dselect interface for Debian, unless you use it all the time it is far to confusing and unfriendly.

It also appears that I have the server installed which is a bit unsettling, not that I can find it anywhere !!.

The non Twain webcam software appears to be having no problem keeping the camera alive, only that the auto balance settings do not work so when it gets dark IT GETS DARK!

Now if I was a SQL server where would I hide ?

Ah, postgreSQL IS in /etc/init.d but when I run it 

/etc/init.d/postgreSQL restart

It runs a process called postmaster.

The docs for postgreSQL say I should be able to just type 'createdb test' and a test database will be created but I get.

FATAL 1:  SetUserId: user 'root' is not in 'pg_shadow'

Some more googling and I type 

su - postgres

and then 

createdb test

no errors !!

psql testdb

and I am in the test database !!

Now to research how to get stuff done and I also want to secure the db !

I have been playing the excellent Dreamcast game Toy Commander, the first game I got (I think I even had it before the Dreamcast !) from nocliche.

This game is CLASS ! it has amazingly detailed environments, transparency, reflection, shading, colored lighting and above all imagination.

Where else can you find a game that pits you against a giant Godzilla in a bunny suit one minute and rescuing toys from ufo transporters the next !

Not to mention racing, shooting, flying, adventuring, thinking, blind charging and FUN !!

So many vehicles! just a few are F1 car, helicopter, hippy bus, tank, jeep, jet,bomber and so many more, all uniquely different in there handling and caperbilities!

Even the screen saver is quality! but like the Wreckless (XBox) I have talked about so much neither game EVER received the acclaim there deserved :(

Back to the DB, it took my forever to work out how to create an IDENTITY column :( in ms TSQL it is a piece of cake in postgreSQL you have to create a 'sequence' which you then apply to a column !



http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/computing/5b05.shtml - dream come true !


3 Sep 2002 20:44 -- 
seti : 1627 -- dnet : 		80,880


I just wanted to note that I have written C++ dll that is callable from VB, not a big thing really but seems so cool especially as it works !!

It gives me the functionality that I wrote for C program along time ago that is very necessary for a VB project I am working on.

More on that later.

I have been looking at games on all consoles and (at the mo) there is nothing of interest, bar, super monkey ball and pikmin, I bought the wrong console !?

Hmmm, the only game I wanted on the gamecube at the time I purchased the XBox was Luigi's Mansion (and that did/does not look that great) where as the XBox had Wreckless,Halo and munch's oddysse, only the tables have turned.

But there is not point in think of such things as I will have no money for sometime and THEN we will move to a more expensive house.

This may seem like a bad move but our house made >60k in two and half years, so our mortgage will only increase a small amount.(thats the plan anyhow!)

all my old book marks have been almost checked and linked here for your enjoyment, I might do a search page of the archives soon hmmmm.

Oh and if you did not notice UNIX based web servers are case sensitive which is why Aug2002 link in the archives did not work :(

http://uk.join.yahoo.com/ - want to work 4 yahoo? maybe 4 years ago !!

http://www.yoot.com/ - seaman (everyone who plays this loves it yet it still dies overall :( !!!

http://www.eco.utexas.edu/Homepages/Staff/Faulkner/yaknow.html - sky-diving jokes !

http://zanyvg.overclocked.org/ - Zany Video Game Quotes, does exactly what is says on the tin


2 Sep 20020 6:56 -- 
seti : 1627 -- dnet : 		79,873


./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/ssh --with-pid-dir=/var/run --libexecdir=/usr/lib/ssh --with-pam --with-tcp-wrappers --with-ipv4-default --with-lastlog --with-privsep-user=nobody --with-privsep-path=/var/sshd 

errors with the tcp wrappers

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/ssh --with-pid-dir=/var/run --libexecdir=/usr/lib/ssh --with-pam  --with-ipv4-default --with-lastlog --with-privsep-user=nobody --with-privsep-path=/var/sshd 

removed  tcp wrappers ref and now fails at PAM

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/ssh --with-pid-dir=/var/run --libexecdir=/usr/lib/ssh --with-ipv4-default --with-lastlog --with-privsep-user=nobody --with-privsep-path=/var/sshd 

removed PAM and it worked plus install and install make

of course I now had the sshd in yet another place but a quick 

ln -s /usr/sbin/sshd /etc/rc2.d/S90sshd 

meant the correct version ran at boot time, but it still gave me the 

"This platform does not support both privilege separation and compression" error !!

Quick bit of google'ing and I reckon this is the fix.

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config (note the config params were not defaults) and set UsePrivilegeSeparation and Compression to no (and get rid of the hashes).

Rerun shhd and .... no errors, time for the reboot acid test !

does not work BUT (and its a big but) I have noticed that as with the email I need to restart my firewall rules to get it to work and the same appears to be true of my access to ssh.

The logs actually show that traffic from my ip on port 22 (ssh) was blocked.

doing an ipchains -L shows the packets SHOULD have gone through (which they did earlier !!)

I give up, although no error messages sshd will only run manually, which defeats the object !

Ah, everything comes to those who probe the annuals of history ;)

I had a quick look in my SAMS Unix Unleashed book under runstates and found that any reference in the rc?.d directories is run as 

<command> start

And it was this that was failing, so I knocked up a quick script for init.d called sshd and linked /etc/rc2.d/S90sshd to it.

SUCCESS !!

erm and I also updated the firewall scripts that were ACTUALLY referred to by the rc2.d links instead of the ones just in my root home directory (that explains a lot).

I also google'd away we constant mail from the system for Nvi recovery (follow the instructions and do not save) and the "Hostname does not resolve or 'domain' in

inn.conf is missing", which involved setting the domain to localhost.

I am so much happier now !! I even set the BIOS to not error on missing keyboard so I should be able to do everything through PuTTY !

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/oneyear/ - wow ! talk about interest in history !

http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/anime_trailer_qt2.html - mmmm, animatrix :D

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20020829 - I laughed


1 Sep 2002 11:05 -- 
seti : 1625 -- dnet : 		78,352


Well I did not manage to get to many posts up last month, maybe I can do better this time.

The main reason was tidying for prospective buyers to view our property and not being at home cos we are looking for houses.

Well we have found one, but it is not built yet, hope to move in in December (or earlier).

Today we were picking the cupboards,tiles and everything else, very tiring.

I tried to get Hanagumi Taisen to work but after region decoding the system with the famous free Action Replay CDX disk I find it is AV ONLY !! I must get one of these new fangled TV things :(

I really want a GameCube for Monkey Ball, Pikmin and Mario Sunshine so when I got an email from Sega about Super Monkey ball 2 and free flash games I though Great!

But these mini games are enough to put anyone of buying what must otherwise be a brilliant game.

First up there was Monkey Target which involves flying around (well gliding) collecting bananas and stars and then dropping at the right moment to hit a target.

Hit the target every time and ... well that was it !!

Then there was monkey baseball, hmmm I hit the ball every time and it always said STRIKE and ... well that was it :(

Last was monkey bowling, set the start position, the power and the spin and bowl away, sounds good but YAWN ! boring !!

Oh well at least there is Mario Sunshine on the way !

I have noticed that the Xbox is not doing very well, in my eyes anyway, no games I am even remotely interested except Blinx the Time Sweeper and that does not come out until the 8th of Nov !!

I counted the number of pages I wrote on the train and it was 30 !!

http://www.sega.com/sega/game/smb2_launch.jhtml - would you buy this game ?

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